Power Cut Compensation and the Guaranteed Standards of Performance

When the power goes off for hours, the money is not a favour from your energy company. It is a right, set out in the Guaranteed Standards of Performance, and it is paid by the network operator that owns the cables in your street, not the supplier that sends your bills. For an unplanned cut in normal weather, a home can claim £100 once the supply has been off long enough, plus an extra £45 for every additional 12-hour period without electricity¹.

The rules matter more than most people realise. Ofgem's own consumer research found that participants had low awareness of the Guaranteed Standards of Performance, even though there was widespread agreement that compensation is an important element of responding to service failings, and that failings involving loss of supply were typically seen as the most severe³. In other words: the money exists, the deadlines are strict, and most households never claim it.

The amounts are reviewed and updated each year based on inflation, so the figures on this page are the current ones and will drift over time¹. The rules cover England, Scotland and Wales; Northern Ireland has its own arrangements, covered separately on our page about power cuts in Northern Ireland.

What the Guaranteed Standards are, and who pays

The Guaranteed Standards of Performance (GSOP) are the minimum service standards that energy companies must meet, with consumers automatically compensated when they are breached⁵. On the electricity side, the payments specify what a distribution network operator must pay a customer if it fails to meet the specified standards of performance⁶. The same framework applies to suppliers: all suppliers must meet minimum standards for specific services or pay £40 automatic compensation if they do not⁷.

The critical point for a householder is who writes the cheque. Your energy supplier sells you electricity; it does not deliver it. A network operator is responsible for the pipes and wires that move energy, and it is the operator you contact about power cuts or connection issues in your area⁸. Citizens Advice puts it plainly: your gas or electricity network operator is responsible for fixing power cuts and paying you compensation, not the company that bills you⁹.

That distinction trips people up at exactly the moment they are least equipped to deal with it. A long cut in winter, a house going cold, a phone battery dying: the last thing most households do is work out which company owes them money. If you do not know who your operator is, the free 105 service will connect you, as explained on our page about the 105 power cut number. You can also read more about who fixes a power cut and how the operators differ.

The scheme is a consumer protection, not a full remedy. Ofgem's research found that views on the appropriate level of compensation varied widely amongst the sample, and that participants had low awareness of the Guaranteed Standards of Performance altogether³.

The amount payable: £100 and £45 per additional 12 hours

For an unplanned cut in normal weather, the headline figures are fixed. You can get £100 for homes or £195 for businesses if fewer than 5,000 properties were affected for more than 12 hours, or more than 5,000 properties were affected for more than 24 hours². On top of the initial payment, you get an extra £45 for every additional 12-hour period without electricity².

Ofgem's own worked examples show how the arithmetic runs. A home affected by a cut lasting more than 12 hours that is interrupted for 36 hours could get 2 additional £45 payments, adding up to £90 on top of the initial sum. A home affected for more than 24 hours and interrupted for 72 hours could get 4 additional £45 payments, adding up to £180².

There is a cap. The maximum amount you could be paid is £400 if the power cut affects 5,000 or more properties². Citizens Advice gives the same structure: if fewer than 5,000 homes were affected, you get £100 if the power is off for 12 hours, then £45 for every 12 hours after that; if more than 5,000 homes were affected, the initial £100 starts at 24 hours instead, with the same £45 additions and the same £400 maximum⁴.

Businesses are paid more per event. For planned and unplanned power cuts, businesses can get £120 under one Ofgem page and £195 under another, a difference worth noting because both are official figures: the £195 figure sits alongside the £100 home payment in the current guidance, while the £120 figure appears on a parallel page². Where two official figures differ, quote both and check the operator's own statement before relying on either.

The size-of-outage distinction is not a technicality. A fault affecting a single street triggers payment at 12 hours; a regional fault affecting tens of thousands of properties triggers it at 24 hours. The larger the incident, the longer you wait before a penny is owed, which is precisely when a household's own backup power matters most.

Restoration deadlines: 12 hours normally, 24 or 48 in storms

The compensation clock is tied to restoration deadlines, and those deadlines move with the weather. In normal conditions, the standard is 12 hours for interruptions outside of severe weather¹. In a category 1 storm, the deadline extends to 24 hours; in a category 2 storm, it extends to 48 hours¹.

What that means in practice is that the operator is not in breach of the standard, and no payment is owed, until the deadline passes. A 20-hour outage in a storm classified as category 1 generates nothing, because the operator had 24 hours to restore supply. The same 20-hour outage on a calm day would already have attracted the initial payment and one £45 addition.

The deadlines also shape what a household should do while the power is off. Until the relevant threshold is crossed, there is nothing to claim and no point chasing the operator for money. After it is crossed, the claim window opens, and the deadlines for claiming are strict: you must claim within 3 months of the power coming back on after a storm, unless you are on the Priority Services Register, in which case there is no time limit⁴.

Households that rely on electricity for heating, medical equipment or stored food should read the storm rules alongside our pages on keeping heating running in a power cut and help during a power cut if you rely on medical equipment, because the compensation scheme will not restore supply, only reimburse inconvenience afterwards.

Storm categories 1 and 2: how the thresholds change

Storms are not graded by wind speed or rainfall but by damage to the network. Ofgem bases the categories on how the storm has affected the electricity network and how many faults it has caused in a high-voltage area in one day¹.

A category 1 storm is defined as unusually bad weather conditions, including lightning, causing at least 8 to 13 times more faults than normal. A category 2 storm is very severe weather causing at least 13 times more faults than normal². National Grid, one of the network operators, describes the same thresholds from the operational side: during lightning events, where the number of HV faults in a 24-hour period is at least 8 times the normal amount, a threshold set by Ofgem, a category 1 storm is declared; during non-lightning events, between 8 and 13 times the normal amount of HV faults within 24 hours triggers it¹¹.

The categorisation matters because it changes both the deadline and the payment. In a category 1 storm, you get £90 if the power was off for 24 hours⁴. For storm category 2, Ofgem's guidance states you can get £90 for the first 48 hours and an extra £45 for every 6 hours after¹. Citizens Advice gives the same figures: £90 at 24 hours in a category 1 storm, and £45 for every 6 extra hours without power in a category 2 storm, up to a maximum of £2,235⁴.

Note the acceleration in a category 2 storm: once the 48-hour threshold is passed, money accrues every 6 hours rather than every 12. National Grid's published standards state the payment for a category 2 storm as £90 for power cuts lasting over 48 hours from the time of notification, and £45 for each complete 6-hour period thereafter, up to a maximum of £2,235¹¹. The same page also states a payment of £85 for power cuts lasting 48 hours and £40 for each 6-hour period thereafter, a lower schedule that differs from the £90 and £45 figures given by Ofgem and Citizens Advice¹¹. Where the figures differ, the Ofgem and Citizens Advice figures are the ones to quote when claiming, but be aware an operator's own published table may show less.

The category system was tightened after the storms of recent years. In 2023 Ofgem announced changes including removing Category 3, which increased the number of compensation payments for inconvenience by reducing the time customers had to wait before becoming eligible¹².

£100 more if cuts happen again within a year

A single long cut is not the only trigger. You could get an extra £100 if your power has gone off more than 4 times between 1 April and 31 March the following year, and each power cut must have lasted at least 3 hours¹. The window is the financial year, not the calendar year, which catches households out: four cuts straddling January to December may fall into two different financial years and qualify for nothing.

This payment is not automatic. A claim must be made with the local network operator, who will decide whether the payment is due¹. Citizens Advice sets out two exclusions: the compensation is not paid to households that have already qualified for compensation from any power cuts in the same 12 months, and planned cuts that households were told about in advance do not count⁴.

The claim deadline follows the financial year. You have 3 months to claim after the end of March, and if your claim is accepted, the operator should pay you within 10 working days⁴.

One figure in circulation is lower. Which? states you can claim an extra £95 for repeated cuts¹³. Ofgem's current guidance and Citizens Advice both say £100¹. The £100 figure is the official one and the one to expect; the £95 figure appears to reflect an earlier level before an inflation uplift, since the amounts are reviewed each year based on inflation¹.

For households on a rural or overhead-line network, where repeated short cuts are a familiar pattern, this is the payment most often missed. Keeping a simple log of dates and durations, and checking whether you qualify for the Priority Services Register, turns an invisible entitlement into a claim.

Exclusions: supply interruptions, harm to appliances and spoiled food

The exclusions are firm and worth knowing before you spend time on a claim. Ofgem lists what the scheme does not pay for: blackouts caused by a national power shortage, damage to electrical equipment or appliances, and a low supply after a power cut¹.

The emergency exclusion is the widest. You will not get compensation in certain situations where the power cut was caused by an emergency, for example a blackout because of a national power shortage⁴. If supply is interrupted deliberately under emergency rota arrangements, the compensation scheme does not apply; our page on rota power cuts and planned emergency disconnections explains how those work.

Appliance damage is excluded too. Your electricity network operator does not have to give you compensation for damage to electronic devices after a power cut, though it may offer a goodwill payment⁴. Our page on compensation if a power cut damaged my devices covers the goodwill route and the evidence you would need.

Food is the exclusion that surprises most people. You cannot make a specific claim for compensation if your refrigerated or frozen food spoils because of a power outage¹⁴. The Guaranteed Standards pay for the inconvenience of being without supply, not for the contents of the fridge. Households facing a long cut may find more practical value in knowing how long food lasts in a fridge or freezer during a power cut, and in checking whether home insurance covers spoilage, which we cover on our page about claiming on insurance after a power cut.

Getting your money: automatic transfers, cheques and the £40 deduction

For most unplanned cuts, no claim is needed. An automatic payment is issued by the electricity network operator within 10 working days⁴. The operator chooses the method: payment could be through a cheque, cash or bank transfer¹.

If the automatic payment does not arrive, the scheme has teeth. Where a claim is made after payment has not been received within 10 working days, an extra £40 compensation is payable⁴. Ofgem states the same from the other direction: where the payment has been missed, an extra £40 may be owed¹⁰. The same principle runs through the wider Guaranteed Standards framework, where suppliers pay £40 automatic compensation when they fail to meet minimum standards⁷.

Storm cases run on a slightly slower track. Where the operator has not paid within 4 weeks of the power coming back on, a claim can be made with them directly⁴. The reason is scale: a category 2 storm can affect tens of thousands of properties, and operators process payments in bulk rather than case by case.

Note that the payment comes from the network operator, not your supplier, so it will not appear as a credit on your energy bill. Bill credit is a separate matter entirely: if you build up credit on your account over the summer months, you can contact your supplier to claim it back at any time, and when you switch supplier your old supplier must refund any credit in your final bill, with compensation available if it does not¹⁵.

Making a claim, following it up and going to the Energy Ombudsman

The process, in order:

1. Wait for the automatic payment. Ten working days for an unplanned cut in normal weather; 4 weeks after restoration for a storm cut⁴.
2. Claim if nothing arrives. Contact your network operator directly, or call 105 if you do not know who it is⁹.
3. Watch the deadline. You must claim within 3 months, unless you are on the Priority Services Register, in which case there is no time limit⁴. For repeated cuts, you have 3 months after the end of March⁴.
4. Expect payment within 10 working days if the claim is accepted, plus the extra £40 if you had to claim⁴.
5. Complain if the operator refuses or ignores you. Contact your network operator first with a formal complaint⁸.
6. Escalate to the Energy Ombudsman if the complaint is not resolved within 8 weeks, or if you receive a deadlock letter¹⁶.

The Ombudsman route has its own rules. You can complain if a reported problem is not fixed within 8 weeks, if you and the energy company cannot agree on a fix, if you receive a deadlock letter, or if you are not happy with the decision received⁸. Once you escalate, the Ombudsman will ask you to send information and evidence, review the evidence from you and the company, inform you of their decision within 6 weeks, and give the company a set of actions to resolve the problem⁸. You must escalate your dispute within 12 months of receiving a deadlock letter¹⁷.

The system is getting faster. From June 2026, customers are able to escalate complaints to the Ombudsman within a shorter time frame, with a maximum of 10 weeks, cutting overall waiting times by a month¹⁸. In straightforward cases the Ombudsman can move quickly: one published case study closed within a few days of the Ombudsman receiving it¹⁹.

Before escalating, gather your evidence: the date you raised the complaint, the dates and durations of the cuts, and confirmation that the company name on your paperwork matches the operator responsible²⁰.

Planned outages and the notice you must receive

Not every cut is a fault. Operators cut supply deliberately for engineering work, and the Guaranteed Standards set the notice they must give: your electricity network operator must give you 2 days' notice if it plans to cut off your supply to do work⁴.

If the operator breaks that rule, compensation follows. You can get £40 if either they do not give you 2 days' notice, or they cut you off on a different day from the one they warned you about⁴. The claim window is shorter than for unplanned cuts: you must claim within 1 month of the start of the power cut⁴.

Northern Ireland differs. Under the NIE Networks rules, if your supply is turned off for planned reasons, you must get three days' notice, not two¹³. Households there should read our page on power cut compensation in Northern Ireland for the full position.

Planned cuts also interact with the repeated-cuts payment: planned cuts you were told about do not count towards the four cuts in a year⁴. A household that has been notified in advance and cut off on the notified day has no claim for that event, however inconvenient the timing.

The scheme's impact on your home's self sufficiency in energy

The Guaranteed Standards are a real right, but they are a right to money after the event, not a right to electricity. The payments recognise inconvenience; they do not restore supply, keep a freezer cold, run a heat pump or power medical equipment while the network is down. The maximum of £400 for a large normal-weather cut, and £2,235 in a category 2 storm, is compensation for sitting in the dark, not a substitute for the energy itself².

The scheme also makes the household's dependence explicit. Compensation is owed by the network operator because the household depends entirely on that operator's wires for its electricity. When the wires fail, nothing in the standard compensation framework shortens the outage: the deadlines of 12, 24 and 48 hours are in effect an official statement of how long a home may be left without supply before anyone owes it anything at all¹.

That is the case for resilience in one figure. A home with its own backup, whether a portable power station, a standby generator or a home battery, does not change its entitlement to compensation, but it changes what the outage costs. The £100 and the £45s still arrive; the spoiled food, the cold nights and the dead phones do not have to happen. Our page on backup power and energy independence sets out the fuller picture.

Two practical points follow. First, join the Priority Services Register if you are eligible, because it removes the 3-month claim deadline entirely⁴. Second, keep a record of every cut: dates, durations and whether you were notified. The repeated-cuts payment and any Ombudsman complaint both depend on evidence the household holds, not on what the operator remembers.